Decorating Diaries: Eat My Contractor Dust

Gasp!  Choke!  The contractors are here--the contractors are here!  And I have the contractor dust settling around my home to prove it. The electricians were here today, installing the canned lighting in the ceiling.  But there was something like an extra ceiling for them to go through, so there was massive amounts of drilling and crawling around the attic and insulation sticking to workboots as they walked around the house.

I wasn't home for most of this.  I showed up at 3:30 as they were cleaning up.  God love them, they'd found our tiny little dustbuster (our vacuum is in our upstairs guestroom closet--not a natural place to look).  So this young guy is walking around our floors, doubled over, trying to catch all the stray dirt and grime with this dustbuster.  So sweet, but not very effective.  I went behind him with a broom and dustpan and swipe with the Swiffer, but it didn't make much difference.  This is the kind of dust that settles in the cracks and only a good mopping will get rid of it.

I'm not so upset.  Dust means work.  And right now we have a tile floor, counters installed, 90% of the lighting done, and they're coming tomorrow to measure for the granite countertop.  I may actually have a bathroom by the end of the month.

Our bedroom may not survive though. That's where the worst of the dust and grime is being tracked in.  I think it's time to move our nighttime abode to the upstairs guest bedroom.  Less chance of a choking hazard, that way.

But some cleaning will get done this weekend.  I'm having my children writers critique group (Ladies, we must think of a name for ourselves) over Wednesday night.  I don't care if they drill to China in my bathroom that day, the house will be clean that night. Time to bond with the mop.

Decorating Diaries - There Be Tile

The "Tile Enthusiast" was here yesterday from 8 AM - 7 PM and got most of the tile laid.  He's coming back this afternoon to grout. I love the way it looks and can't wait for everything to dry so we can fire up that heated floor for the first time.

Poor tile guy--it's freezing in our bathroom.  Barely any heat reaches back there no matter how much we crank up the temperature.  That's why we went with a heated floor--to raise the temperature of the room. But this guy and the woman helping him spent all day on their knees on concrete in this freezing room.  I'm sure they're as ready to be done with this job as I am.

Not sure what's next.  More work to the shower and then tile guy will be back to tile it.  But I think we're close to being ready to install counters.  Too bad I'm going away this weekend.  It would be a great time to get in there and prime the walls before the toilet and countertops go in.  Less mess and fuss.  I might see if I can bribe Blair, who hates to paint, into at least splashing some primer on the wall behind where the commode will be.

Little to Say?

I feel obligated to post something, but I really don't have a lot to say (versus the eye-opening, makes-you-want-to-rethink-your-life-and-be-a-better-person posts I'm famous for).  Still,  I will try. :)

I griped at the contractor via voicemail Tuesday night.  On Tuesday, before they left, I asked the contractor to call my local contractor that night, as he has a key to our house and could arrange to let him in.  That's whey they told me the tile guy had to finish another job in the morning, but would be at my house in the afternoon.  At my request, my  local contractor called at 9:30 Tuesday night to say that he hadn't heard from tile guy.  So I left a message saying "Hey, I don't want my local guy called last minute.  He's got other jobs and I want this planned out to make sure he's available to let you in." Then I said, "And, it was my understanding the tile guy was 'all mine' this week until the job was finished and now he's not even showing up until tomorrow afternoon.  What's going on?"  I told you, I'm on it this time.

So I got home last night and had a message that the guys would be meeting today (Thursday) at 9:30 am.  Fine, but that means no work was done yesterday.  Plus, why does the morning start at 9:30 vs. 8? Yes, he has an hour drive here but lots of people have long commutes and manage to make it in by 8 to work.  Blair leaves the house at 6am every day, so I don't have a lot of sympathy for the "Oh, it's so early" excuse.  Anyway, I just want this bathroom done.  I'm tired of being in a bad mood about it and am getting on my own nerves.

I had a great day yesterday.  I was the THIRD person to arrive at my Triad Networks group, thank you very much, to make up for my embarrassment at being late last week. And these people rock.  I said I'd appreciate any leads on distribution venues for my book--gift stores, jewelry stores, flower shops, hospital gift stores, etc.  I walked out with 9 leads and 5 book sales.  Absolutely stupendous.  It puts me on my game so I can offer them as many good leads in return.

Then we had 15 International students visit our Toastmasters group, and hearing where they were from and their goals was fascinating. I had a power marketing meeting with my friends Pam & Michael, dinner with Blair, and then my children's writers critique group came through in aces for me with dead-on critiques of the first chapter of my book.  So all in all, a good day.

Today I'm teaching a networking class at the Women's Resource Center, picking up my new glasses, and maybe lunch with a friend.  Then home to work, work, work!  I'm going to Chicago this weekend for a long overdue trip to see my mom, sister, nephew, and brother-in-law.  My nephew is 2 1/2 and I haven't seen him in over a year.  I know he's going to look huge to me--he's at the top of the charts for height.

But the thing about going out of town is that even if you're gone for a day, you have to do a weeks worth of work before you leave and a weeks worth after before you feel caught up. So I'm trying to tidy up a multitude of loose ends today and tomorrow so I can leave and enjoy my trip with a clear conscience (And a ball of yarn.  I've started knitting  project #2).  

So, off to face the e-mail monster I go!
 

Decorating Diaries - At Least They're Funny

I started the morning off a little tense as the contractors didn't get here until quarter of eleven.  AND, the owner made no acknowledgement or mention of the no-show on Sunday.  I know apologizing is never fun (I did it once, and I remember) but I do think it was called for.  But fine, they're here, whatever.

 So the tile guy calls me downstairs a few minutes ago to look at the layout of the tile and ask a question about the pattern and where it falls with the air register.  He gave me a few options to chose from, all of which sounded fine to me. "You pick," I told him. "I trust you. You've been doing this a lot longer than me."

"Actually, I just watched a video," he said without blinking an eye. There was a brief pause then we all burst out laughing.

"Great," I said.  "So okay, I'm going to go start drinking now."

"Oh man, we started hours  ago," he said, waving his hands in the air.

At least they're funny.